Page 8 of Denim & Diamonds

“I need to start sneaking out of this place, too,” she said. “Find my own hot lumberjack. Does he have any brothers? It’s way more fun out there than in here.”

Morgan Flowers was a twenty-two-year-old influencer staying at Sierra after a near nervousbreakdown that had warranted a social media hiatus. Despite her massive number of followers, Morgan had a lot of anxiety when encounteringactualpeople in real life. Her stay at Sierra was an attempt to become more grounded, placing more value on herself and less value on the opinions of those on the Internet. So far, she’d done almost nothing but vlog the experience for the future entertainment of none other than—you guessed it—internet strangers.

“Do you mind turning the camera off when we’re talking about my personal life?” I scolded.

She adjusted her lens. “I’m not going to use the sound. It’s just B-roll for my vlogs. You’ll be a silent talking head beneath my commentary.”

“Doesn’t it go against the privacy policy here to be taking so much footage?”

“Since when are we following the rules, Miss Ladder Climber?” She giggled. “Or should I say Commando Hot Lumberjack Climber? Anyway, not sure about the camera rules. I never specifically asked, and I sort of smuggled the equipment in. As long asyou’reokay with me showing your face. And I thought you said youdidn’t mind, that we don’t have anything to be ashamed of by being here?”

“We don’t, but that doesn’t mean I want a camera shoved in my face every five seconds. I didn’t realize how attached to that thing you’d be.”

She nodded and sighed. “Okay. I’ll shut it off for a bit.” Morgan put the camera away and reached for Brock’s shirt, which was lying on my bed. She brought it to her nose. “Mmm… Smells exactly how I’d imagine a big, hot lumberjack would.” She groaned. “Shouldn’t have sniffed that. Now I’m horny. A lot of good that does me being stuck in here.”

I watched her a moment, feeling…something. Why did her reaction to his shirt make me jealous? I mean, I barely knew the man and certainly wasn’t able to stake a claim. But in my head, Brock wasmypseudo-kidnapper, no one else’s. He’d had mybare asson his shoulders just this morning.Ugh.I cringed. That whole situation was less than ideal.

“Are you gonna see him again?”

“Well, I think I should return the shirt and the notebook, don’t you? I mean, how else is he going to chart his daily good deeds?”

“I think that makes a good excuse to see him, because you know seeing him again is really what you’re looking for.” She smirked.

Feeling my cheeks heat, I denied it. “It’s not like that.”

“I thought you said he was hot.”

“Heis, but my attraction to the guy can’t mean anything. I mean, what am I gonna do? I don’t live here, and technically am not even supposed to be leaving the premises.”

“What else is there to look forward to for the next three weeks? If you’re not gonna sneak out and see the burly bartender again, maybe I will.” She crossed her arms.

My heart fell to my stomach.

Morgan snapped her fingers. “A-ha.”

“What?”

“Your face just turned so red. Now I know you’re bullshitting me. Youdolike him a little.” She laughed. “Maybemorethan a little. And I was only kidding, by the way. Just trying to test you.”

“I don’t know him from a hole in the wall, Morgan. You can’t like someone you know nothing about.”

“You know he’s protective and he likes to kill animals.”

“Which, by the way, is an oxymoron.” I laughed.

“Are you calling me a moron?”

“No. I saidoxymoron.”

“Sorry. I’m a little traumatized from the mean comments on my post yesterday. Someone actually did call me a moron.”

“How are you posting when they took away our phones?”

“I snuck in a second one. I haven’t been checking it, only posting once a day. I can’t go dark. My followers will think I’m dead.”

Morgan wrapped Brock’s shirt around her shoulders, which caused a sudden rush of adrenaline as jealousy shot through me again. I definitely needed mental help. Good thing I was in the right place.

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